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Though the Lord Jesus has gone away, He not only imparts to me what my condition requires, but also shares with me through the Spirit His position and Life in heaven (Col 3:4). All is coming forth in the sublime grandeur of the Man Who has broken the power of death, and now will introduce His beloved ones on earth into the knowledge of what He can do for them in their condition, and share with them His condition in heaven (which “keeps us from evil” and “from falling” - 2Th 3:3, Jude 1:24—NC).
Man has committed two great crimes. One is, that he has given up confidence in God for self-righteousness, depending on his own powers; that was the beginning of evil. Self-confidence is preferred to confidence in God. “Sin entered the world, and death by sin” (Rom 5:12); but the Lord Jesus is risen out from the dead, and become in resurrection and ascension the Head and Life of a new creation.
The second crime is that God gave man a law, and the Jew said, “By our law He ought to die.” God gave man a sword, then in the hands of the Roman power; the Jew said, “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death,” so they handed the Lord Jesus over to the Gentiles to put Him to death, so that both the Law of God and the sword were used by man against Him.
Now, there is not one of you who will not own that he is guilty of self-confidence, the first crime. But what about the other crime—that you are connected with the man on the earth that refused the Lord Jesus a place here (we weren’t concerned about Jesus before we were saved—NC)? The Father, in His wonderful, unaccountable mercy, comes out in grace to forgive you your sins, setting forth His only Son to be a propitiation through faith in His Blood; and now, He says, as it were, “You would not give Him a place on the earth, but I will turn even that to your benefit, and you shall share with Him His place in heaven.” You cannot accept the place in heaven and not suffer from His rejection here. “I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (Jn 15:19).
Thus, through grace, there are two great facts; one, I have done with the man on earth that ruined me, and I am united to the Man in heaven Who recreated me. Faith is that moral power which diverts you from the ruined thing, and occupies you with that which satisfies the holiness of God. The ruin in the garden is reversed at the Cross. He that measured my distance is the One Who is the measure of my nearness!
It is a wonderful thing for a poor sinner to see by faith a Man Who is thoroughly holy. Well, I want to get away not only from that man on whose account the Lord Jesus died, but from the place where He was put to death. I have nowhere to look but heaven. If my heart has been won by the Lord Jesus, I want to be with Him where He is. Oh, how unfeeling we are to walk about the earth with so little sense of the death of the Lord Jesus; there is more feeling in people walking in a cemetery where a mother lies.
Every saint is in trouble here (has trials—NC), and some are praying to God to change their circumstances, others that they may be resigned to them, but in neither case are they comforted, because neither have found out the comfort, which is independent of all circumstances; they have not found out the value of the words, “For ye have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:3).
—J B Stoney
MJS daily devotional excerpt for Feb. 15
“The believer knows that he is indwelt by the Holy Spirit on the testimony of the written Word; others know when the believer is filled with the Holy Spirit by the growing manifestation of the Living Word.” -MJS
“There are believers who need the reminder that deeper than mind and feeling and will, deeper than the soul, where these have their seat, in the depths of the renewed spirit, there comes, at re-birth, the Holy Spirit to dwell forever. His indwelling is there, first of all, and all through, to be recognized by faith. Even when I cannot see the least evidence of His working, I am quietly and reverently to believe that He dwells in me. In that faith I am restfully and trustfully to count upon His working, and to wait for it. In that faith I must very distinctly deny my own wisdom and strength, and in childlike self-abnegation depend upon Him to work.” –Andrew Murray (1828-1917)
Man has committed two great crimes. One is, that he has given up confidence in God for self-righteousness, depending on his own powers; that was the beginning of evil. Self-confidence is preferred to confidence in God. “Sin entered the world, and death by sin” (Rom 5:12); but the Lord Jesus is risen out from the dead, and become in resurrection and ascension the Head and Life of a new creation.
The second crime is that God gave man a law, and the Jew said, “By our law He ought to die.” God gave man a sword, then in the hands of the Roman power; the Jew said, “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death,” so they handed the Lord Jesus over to the Gentiles to put Him to death, so that both the Law of God and the sword were used by man against Him.
Now, there is not one of you who will not own that he is guilty of self-confidence, the first crime. But what about the other crime—that you are connected with the man on the earth that refused the Lord Jesus a place here (we weren’t concerned about Jesus before we were saved—NC)? The Father, in His wonderful, unaccountable mercy, comes out in grace to forgive you your sins, setting forth His only Son to be a propitiation through faith in His Blood; and now, He says, as it were, “You would not give Him a place on the earth, but I will turn even that to your benefit, and you shall share with Him His place in heaven.” You cannot accept the place in heaven and not suffer from His rejection here. “I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (Jn 15:19).
Thus, through grace, there are two great facts; one, I have done with the man on earth that ruined me, and I am united to the Man in heaven Who recreated me. Faith is that moral power which diverts you from the ruined thing, and occupies you with that which satisfies the holiness of God. The ruin in the garden is reversed at the Cross. He that measured my distance is the One Who is the measure of my nearness!
It is a wonderful thing for a poor sinner to see by faith a Man Who is thoroughly holy. Well, I want to get away not only from that man on whose account the Lord Jesus died, but from the place where He was put to death. I have nowhere to look but heaven. If my heart has been won by the Lord Jesus, I want to be with Him where He is. Oh, how unfeeling we are to walk about the earth with so little sense of the death of the Lord Jesus; there is more feeling in people walking in a cemetery where a mother lies.
Every saint is in trouble here (has trials—NC), and some are praying to God to change their circumstances, others that they may be resigned to them, but in neither case are they comforted, because neither have found out the comfort, which is independent of all circumstances; they have not found out the value of the words, “For ye have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:3).
—J B Stoney
MJS daily devotional excerpt for Feb. 15
“The believer knows that he is indwelt by the Holy Spirit on the testimony of the written Word; others know when the believer is filled with the Holy Spirit by the growing manifestation of the Living Word.” -MJS
“There are believers who need the reminder that deeper than mind and feeling and will, deeper than the soul, where these have their seat, in the depths of the renewed spirit, there comes, at re-birth, the Holy Spirit to dwell forever. His indwelling is there, first of all, and all through, to be recognized by faith. Even when I cannot see the least evidence of His working, I am quietly and reverently to believe that He dwells in me. In that faith I am restfully and trustfully to count upon His working, and to wait for it. In that faith I must very distinctly deny my own wisdom and strength, and in childlike self-abnegation depend upon Him to work.” –Andrew Murray (1828-1917)
